


Busy Day

by navaan



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Episode: s01e11 Boom Town, Hope, M/M, Memories, Sad, Waiting, Wistful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-26
Updated: 2011-03-26
Packaged: 2017-10-17 07:44:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/174520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack watches himself be in love and adventuring in Cardiff. Set during the episode Boom Town of DW and before TW season one. (slight Nine/Jack or Nine/Rose/Jack)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Busy Day

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the wonderful person that gave me one or all (?) of the anonymous charity gifts. This is for the second of four gifts. Maybe that's going to be my new policy: **Ficlets for charity gifts.** ;)

It was one of those days Jack wanted to be anything but the head of his own little Torchwood Three. There had been an increase in rift spikes recently and there had been some sightings of Weevils outside of Cardiff. There hadn't been time for rest in days.

And at the moment he still had some trouble recruiting. And he supposed it had something to do with the new leader of Torchwood One. The overambitious Yvonne Hartman had made it clear that she saw everything that came out of the rift as the property of Torchwood One and obviously he had to tread carefully with her. That left him with deciding which information was secure enough to be passed on and what should never leave the confines of his own Torchwood facilities without attracting her attention. All the hushing up grated on his nerves. More than usual anyway.

His mood hadn't gotten any better over the week when he followed the news and remembered that he would have to do something that he really did not like to do at all: He would have to lie to his employees, would have to cover up the evidence and last but not least would have to stay put.

“Are you kidding me, Jack?” Suzie cried. She was waving a newspaper in front of his face. Toshiko was sitting at one of her computer screens, but was watching the argument interestedly. “You want us to go to Bristol to check the Weevil incident? And you are not going to do anything about this nuclear power plant being built right on top of us? On top of the rift!?”

He snatched the offending newspaper out of her grasp and put it down on the desk beside him. “Don't worry your pretty head about this, Suzie. Just do your job. This power plant business is already taken care of.”

She gave a sharp sarcastic laugh. “Yeah? Taken care of already?” Her tone was more than a little disbelieving.

“Yes.” Technically he had at least helped to take care of that business _already_ although it would take _them_ another couple of hours to even get here and take care of it. One just had to love time travel. “So now you and Tosh go and do as you are told.” His stern, bossy tone was lost on Suzie but Toshiko jumped up, to gather her things.

He knew it would take them some time to deal with the problem in Bristol and he would make sure that it would take longer than the women could anticipate. They shouldn't be back here before the Tardis had left again. Everything was in place. He had been planning this for days.

Smugly he watched his two employees go and with a heartfelt sigh sank into one of the chairs in front of Tosh's big monitors. Nothing there, yet. Still sometime before the Doctor would be here.

He felt uneasy just thinking about it. The Doctor and Rose would be here. Right in front of him. And he would not be able to run up to them and do what he had longed for since he got left behind.

He would see them right in front of his doorstep and still be as far away as ever.

Nervously he made himself busy around the Hub and cooked himself an awful tasting coffee – he really needed to find someone who did a better job at this than he was. Then he took care of some technical glitches in their power supply.

Coffee. Power glitches. He needed employees. Desperately.

When he finally heard the tell-tale noise that preceded the arrival of the painfully familiar police box on the Plass, he felt sick. Every fibre of his being screamed at him to run out and do what he had wanted to do for years: See the Doctor and Rose again to travel with them through time and space.

But it was an impossible thing to do. He forced himself to sit down and stay calm. There was no need to watch this, was there? Still it was the closest he would come to see the two of them again for sometime yet. He hoped it wouldn't be long now, but he had no idea when he'd finally be able to meet them again face to face.

The CCTV cameras showed him what was going on outside. He could see Mickey already walking up to the Tardis and there he was: A much younger and happier Jack Harkness poking his head out the door.

A memory was playing out right in front of his eyes.

Then the Doctor, his Doctor, stood on the Plass and it seemed he was starring right into his direction, as if he knew that from the depth of the Hub a future Jack was watching them. There was a slight frown on his face, but his eyes spoke of a deeper concern, of something frightening. But then he turned back to Rose.

Jack felt chilled. The Doctor hadn't really been looking at him, because he – Jack – was down there with them. But the look had made his heart clench up uncomfortably. Had the Doctor felt something was wrong. Did Time Lord sense when time lines crossed?

He watched the Doctor and Rose laughing and joking. He watched himself teasing Mickey. He watched himself exchange a meaningful glance with the Doctor. He felt a surge of uncontrollable jealousy when the man in the leather jacket smiled at someone – even if he smiled at himself. He wanted to go upstairs and hug Rose.

He felt like crying because that stupid young conman outside had not the slightest idea that soon his time with these extraordinary people would be over, that soon he would be willing to die for the Doctor and then be abandoned.

Rose was happily smiling at all of them. Oblivious of things to come. Jack was glad for that.

He could still remember her vivacious laughter and he didn't want her to be sad. Not ever.

The Doctor and his younger self were bantering, while they were walking towards one of the restaurants. He still remembered everything clearly. It had been such a happy little trip – if you didn't count the rift opening. But then facing trouble with the Doctor had always been a lot of fun.

He watched the smiling faces and longed to be there.

But he was. He had been.

Rose was smiling at something he was telling her and then all of them were laughing.

Although he knew exactly what was going on, the Captain inside the Hub felt left out.

Out there was his past, but he was still waiting for the present Doctor to come back. To things go back to the way they had been. If that was even possible after all of the things he had done while stuck on earth. He had been so angry in the beginning, but the waiting had shallowed the angry hurt he had felt over the years. It still hurt. He hoped that one day it would stop hurting.

His eyes couldn't follow them everywhere, but his memory could fill in the gaps. It left him somewhere between sad and angry at first. But then, they returned the Slitheen woman to the Tardis and he felt the anger slowly dissipate.

Jack remembered that part. Rose was busy with Mickey. The two of them left the Tardis together and were talking and laughing in front of the water tower now. Directly above him. They were walking of hand in hand. Jack smiled, feeling happy for Rose. Feeling happy, because he was allowed to see her again.

He and the Doctor were tinkering with the Tardis. He knew it. And in a few minutes, the Time Lord would step out again, to take their prisoner out to dinner.

Predictably the Doctor stepped out with the other alien in “human clothing” and left Jack to meddle with the extrapolator inside the Tardis. The way the man smiled into the open Tardis door, the way his younger self watched them go before returning inside made the Captain remember what was more important than anything else: There had been some trust and some understanding between them. There had also been a lot of banter and flirting. There had been thrill and adventure, companionship and love in all of it.

Over the agonizing question why he had been left behind, he had forgotten how much he had loved that man, how much better he had been for that girl and how much these people were still affecting everything he did.

The Doctor waved before walking off. The Jack in the Tardis door laughed and vanished inside.

It had been so good. The best time of his live.

It was worth the wait. One day he would meet the Doctor again.

He could feel the pain lessen. The Doctor would not have abandoned him without reason. It was enough to seem him like this and remember how good it had been. He could wait a little longer.

Then the equipment started bleeping in alarm, the rift manipulator and the computers all gave off warnings.

No use acting, he thought. He knew that the face-off would happen inside the Tardis. He could sit out this one.

He saw the Doctor run to the Tardis with the non-human Mayor. The last glimpse of the Time Lord. Then Rose came running back, too.

Minutes later the Rift closed and the Tardis stood there, calm and untouched. It was over.

He watched the proceedings outside. Rose running over the Plass again searching her boy friend, talking to police officers.

He saw Mickey watching her and leaving. “Yeah, Mickey. Tell me about it. They break our hearts, don't they?” he said aloud. He watched her return to the Tardis and then the ship dematerialized. “But know what? They are worth it. They are so worth the wait. ”

He had been sure, that after this day, he would feel even more depressed about him being left behind than before.

In fact, he felt better than he had felt in all those years since the game station. He had never met people like these. They had made him so much better. And he loved them. He still did.

The Doctor was still out there somewhere. Rose, too. Someday they would meet again. And it would be worth the wait.

* * *

“What happened to the Plass?” was the first thing Toshiko asked when she came back the next day.

“Ahh. The Rift gave us a little shaking yesterday.”

“A little!?” the Asian woman exclaimed when she had time to take a look at the readings.

Suzie took a peek over her shoulder. “How did you manage this alone?”

Jack smiled and sipped his coffee. “Ahh. No problem. The atomic plant thing is taken care of, too, by the way.”

The women stared at him. “You must have had a busy day,” Suzie concluded. “You don't even look tired.”

The captain gave a loud laugh. “I feel better than I have in years. Nothing better than a little trouble.” Even if you've dealt with it in your past.

He would wait. He could wait. No need being jealous over time you spent with the ones you loved.

After all now he had beautiful CCTV footage of their happy stop over in Cardiff...


End file.
